Saudi Investors 'Pull Out Of US'

bbc ^ | 8-21-2002

[blam]

Wednesday, 21 August, 2002, 00:44 GMT 01:44 UK

Saudi investors 'pull out of US'

Saudis deny they have funded terrorists

Saudi investors are reported to have withdrawn tens of billions of dollars from the United States as the two countries' relations come under increasing strain. Britain's Financial Times newspaper quotes one analyst as saying withdrawals by individual Saudi investors may amount to as much as $200bn and their loss may have contributed to recent falls in the value of the dollar.

People no longer have any confidence in the US economy or in US foreign policy

Saudis have reacted with anger to a lawsuit for damages filed last week by families of 11 September victims against Saudi banks and charities.

According to the FT, funds withdrawn from the US have been moved to European accounts instead.

The recent decline in US financial markets is given as another possible reason for the reported withdrawals.

"People no longer have any confidence in the US economy or in US foreign policy," said Bishr Bakheet, a financial consultant in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

"And if the latest lawsuit is not thrown out in court, it will mean no more Saudi money in the US."

Saudi anger

An official at Al-Rajhi Investment and Development Corp, one of the Saudi banks named in the lawsuit, dismissed it as an "act to extort Saudi money" and "meddling in the region".

Saudi investors are believed to have invested about $750bn in the US.

Most of the hijackers are believed to have been Saudis

Relatives of 900 11 September victims are seeking damages of over $1 trillion in the civil suit filed in a Washington court last Thursday.

The suit accuses three senior Saudi princes, several Saudi and other foreign banks and Sudan's Government of funding Osama bin Laden.

One of the princes accused is Defence Minister Prince Sultan, the kingdom's third-highest official.

A lawyer for the families, Ron Motley, explained that the $1 trillion-plus damages claim was calculated by multiplying the number of plaintiffs by the average award of $30m in such cases and then again by three.

He cited a federal law which says that damages can be tripled for victims of terrorist crimes.

Riyadh has yet to officially comment on the lawsuit while a Sudanese government minister dismissed the allegations against Khartoum.

Strained relations

Fifteen of the 19 men who hijacked planes on 11 September have been identified as Saudi, but the country's government has repeatedly stressed it was not involved in the attacks.

The lawsuit alleges Saudi money has "for years been funnelled to encourage radical anti-Americanism as well as to fund the al Qaeda terrorists".

Riyadh's refusal to allow the US to use its territory to attack Iraq and repeated criticism of pro-Israel US bias have strained relations between the oil superpower and Washington.

The FT writes that accusations that Saudi Arabia's austere brand of Islam breeds terrorism and its charities finance al-Qaeda have been perceived in the kingdom as attacks on Saudi society and its religion.

[blam]

Is this an economic attack cloaked in indignation? (I don't trust these Saudi bastards!)

[Cultural Jihad]

alQaeda Employee Handbook (Flash humor):
http://cagle.slate.msn.com/mondo/alqaeda.swf

[big bad easter bunny]

Investments means they were making money off this country. When they sell they lose money and we get the ownership back. The Japanese did the same thing a decade ago.

[MJY1288]

Where on God's green earth are they going to invest the money they earned from the U.S. Oil consuming Taxpayers..... Argentina?... Thier own economy?.... Cuba?... Israel?.... Sounds to me these diaper heads are biting their noses off to spite their face.

[slimer]

Take your damned dirty money and stick it in your turbin.

[Looking4Truth]

Fine, go ahead. We don't need your sleazy gold chain wearing rapist pig money anyway.

[mathurine]

When the squatties are deposed, where will they go if they don't have bucks in America? Africa? Palestime? Uuurrpp? Wherever they go, good riddance.

[McGavin999]

Fine with me, they'll all be flying tourist class pretty soon though. What are they going to invest in, the euro?

[Vidalia]

This is total bullcrapola.

World financial markets and the all banks who participate in those Worldwide markets are joined at the forehead to the knees.

If anyone believes that any Swiss, or French or German banking system deals only with the Euro or the currency of the realm then they don't know a thing about international banking.

The monies may be taken out of one American soil bank and merely wired to another European bank, but the reality is that the monies will be loaned out regardless, to the same people.

Only the address of the bank of origination will change with few overall differences in the long run.

The Saudis are playing on the ever more growing ignorance of the American people about how the banking game is played.

No legitimate banks will fail with this Saudi public relations "slight of hand"...

[madrastex]

Just how much oil do we get from them?Can we cut them off so their revenue goes to zero?

[Bobby777]

they show their contempt for the USA everyday ... oh that we would have let Saddam have them ... we still can Mr. President ... they would sing a different tune ... however, not one more drop of American blood should be shed protecting their OBL-lovin' hides ... let decent Saudis flee and let Saddam loose on the royal ingrates ...

[ChadGore]

What makes them think they can buy their way out of the mess they made ?

[jwalsh07]

Good, let them invest in Marxist Western Europe. They deserve each other.

[Bobby777]

remember gas prices after 9/11? ... we cut back on fuel so much they had to drop it dramatically ... the whole system is built on daily consumption ... it backs up real fast when it ain't movin' ... now of course they would try to retaliate by cutting consumption ... that could be an act of war ...

[Woodkirk]

I wonder if they sold their shares in Cynthia Mckinney, Inc ==

[porte des morts]

... now of course they would try to retaliate by cutting consumption .

You probably meant production; but thats been tried about a hundred times already. No two OPEC countries can agree, so it just doesn't work.

But if OPEC would agree and cut production to zero; two things happen; they get zero revenue....the rest of the world doesn't consume enough for them to even open an oil spigot. And even better....the rest of the sheeple wake up and the oil fields become fair game in our war on terror.

[Vinnie]

The Saudis have to sell their paper to pull out don't they? They are not likely in passbook savings.

I don't understand how their selling paper can be a big deal. They make some money, lose some, they have to have a buyer. What is the big minus to this?

(please be gentle, I'm not a financial whiz)

[MJY1288]

I know our imports from the Saudi's have been cut, but I don't know how much. If and when the Russian's start exporting to us we can turn our backs on the Saudi's as they have us. I personally hope we find a way to become energy self sufficiant, but I doubt the Enviro Wacko's and the RATS will stand for it.

I say we drill in Alaska, the Gulf of Mexico, old abandoned oil wells or whatever it takes, until we find a suitable replacement for oil and to hell with relying on 9th century retro's who hate us. If we stopped buying oil from the mideast, the entire middle east would self destruct in ten years. WTF else do they have to offer the planet other than Oil and Hatred?

[Bobby777]

yes I did ... thanks for correcting my typo ... I'm just sick of them spitting in our face ...